[FARC] FM Packet

Tue Aug 14 10:28:46 EDT 2007

Yep Bob, with W3FDK, W3ICF, KA3HJC, NE3R and your help I finally got packet 
working. A major delay in setting it up was my confusion as to whether a TNC 
was necessary, which a lot of ham literature seems to indicate.  If fact, 
with all the soundcard software out there now, a TNC seems less and less 
necessary, unless there are some digital modes that absolutely have to use 
one; Pactor and Amtor?

I don't plan to make packet one of my everyday operating modes, but I did 
want to try out the mode and see what it was all about.  W3ICF showed me how 
it works in an APRS application using the web site FINDU.COM.  Sometime when 
PSK31 is very busy, nobody is on RTTY, SSTV pictures are all white noise, 
and CW can't be decoded by the software, I'll use Packet as a standby. 
145.090 and 145.730 seem to have the most activity for packet in our area. 
One great thing about packet is it's FM, no fading or noise to worry about.

73
KB3ONM
Kirk

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Moroney" <windbrkr at erols.com>
To: "Frederick, Maryland ARC" <farc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 1:41 PM
Subject: Re: [FARC] FM Packet

> Kirk,
> Vanilla AX.25 VHF packet radio seems to be used a lot less these days
> than in the past.  For Hams, packet used to serve the same purpose as
> dial-up BBS's back in the day, with the same basic types of activities
> (email, bbs postings, small file up/download, etc), mostly (but not
> exclusively) Ham-oriented.
>
> Nowadays, packet seems to get a good workout mainly during DX contests
> when reports of band openings and rare station/country activities are
> passed around via packet networks.  Some rig control programs can even
> read these formatted reports and tune one of the transceiver's VFOs to
> the active freq., no doubt saving many contesters from the nasty effects
> of carpal tunnel syndrome from too much manual dial twisting.
>
> Packet might get fired up again during emergencies and/or drills, but
> there seems to be less of that sort of activity as well in recent years,
> at least in this area.  As was discussed during the last FARC meeting,
> the emphasis seems to be moving toward APRS vs. plain old packet for
> emergency uses.
>
> I've dabbled in packet, but not recently, so I can't give you any
> current specifics on what's happening with it locally.  There are some
> folks in the Club who have used packet extensively in the past and who
> can probably give you a quick run-down on current connectivity and
> activity in the area.  Rolan, Anthony and Joe have already offered
> input, so perhaps one of them or someone else will jump in here or
> contact you directly with info.  Alternately you can put your questions
> out at the FARC meeting next week.
>
> In the meantime, you can go to http://www.tapr.org/ for a lot of info on
> packet/APRS, and find even more via Google by searching on "using packet
> radio" and the like.
>
> 73, Bob K9CMR
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Kirk Talbott wrote:
> > Yep Bob, you're right. I checked out the MIXW user manual PDF for packet 
> > and
> > got it minimally set up for packet use. I can connect successfully to
> > W3FDK-2 and do not need any connection to the Kenwood TS-2000's RS-232 
> > data
> > port.  That whole exercise of configuring and setting up the internal 
> > TNC on
> > the Kenwood was wasted time and effort.  Now that I'm on to W3FDK-2, now
> > what?  How does one use Packet?
> >
> > 73
> > KB3ONM
> > Kirk
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Bob Moroney" <windbrkr at erols.com>
> > To: "Frederick, Maryland ARC" <farc at mailman.qth.net>
> > Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 10:29 AM
> > Subject: Re: [FARC] FM Packet
> >
> >> Kirk,
> >>
> >> Have you checked out the MIXW manual at
> >> http://k6ix.net/MixW/MixW%20Manual.pdf?  It seems to go into some 
> >> detail
> >> about configuring the program to do packet.
> >>
> >> I think what Anthony N1IG is saying is simply that you don't need to do
> >> anything with the TS2000 data port.  If you've got everything working
> >> for the other modes, you're ready to go, other than configuring MIXW 
> >> for
> >> AX.25 with your call and the other setup stuff that seems to be
> >> described in the manual.
> >>
> >> 73, Bob K9CMR
> >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >> Kirk Talbott wrote:
> >>
> >>> Yes, I can do PSK31, RTTY, CW, transmit and receive using the Kenwood
> >>> TS-2000 and Rigblaster Plus. My connections are soundcard connections, 
> >>> I
> >>> have nothing connected to the TS-2000's RS-232 data port. What's the
> >>> next
> >>> step?
> >>>
> >>> 73
> >>> KB3ONM
> >>> Kirk
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ----- Original Message ----- 
> >>> From: "Anthony C" <n1ig at hotmail.com>
> >>> To: "Frederick, Maryland ARC" <farc at mailman.qth.net>
> >>> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 4:43 PM
> >>> Subject: Re: [FARC] FM Packet
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> if you are able to TX psk & rtty with the rigblaster and the ts2000,
> >>>> you can do packet as well with the same setup.  you'll be using mixw 
> >>>> and the
> >>>> rigblaster to put packet tones into and out of the radio.
> >>>> are you able to do psk & rtty TX & RX now?
> >>>>
> >>>> Anthony  N1IG
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